Why The State Fair Of Texas Sucks: It Refuses To Change.

The State Fair Doesn’t Want To Change — Because, Hey, Tradition Is Tradition, And Corny Dogs Are Clearly More Important Than Anything Else.

Unlike seemingly every other media outlet in Dallas and, to a degree, the whole goddamn state, we here at Central Track aren’t exactly enamored with the State Fair of Texas. Why? Because, for starters, we’re not kids any more, and we’re no longer oblivious to the ways of the world. But also for a litany of other reasons, which we’ll happily run down for you here, one per day, over the entire course of the fair’s 2017 run.

And, in the fair’s defense, it sure does seem to have the majority of the public’s backing. We may have gone out of our way to highlight a number of issues we have with the State Fair of Texas, but the truth is that Central Track is not alone in calling for the Dallas City Council to demand that the fair’s board be more open about its dealings and spending; in reality, every major publication in Dallas has at one point called for a more transparent State Fair.

How in hell that doesn’t count as the fair receiving public funds to operate is beyond us. But, hey, what else is new? This is America. It’s not the first time rich folks get away with one in the courts system, and it almost certainly will not be the last.

Of course, that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, excuse the most bothersome aspect of the State Fair of Texas’ unwillingness to change — that hordes of fairgoers refuse to acknowledge even the slightest possibility that the State Fair of Texas could be overestimating its worth or straight up lying about the way it manages its funds.

At first, we had a difficult time understanding why people are so committed to this troubling tradition. But then we remembered that the President of The United States regularly attacks the free press, labeling the research and efforts of journalists as fake news. And, rather suddenly, it all comes into perspective.

To the many of you out there who just flat out can’t believe that the human beings who run the State Fair of Texas could possibly make mistakes or that they might just want to maintain their ridiculous salaries: This series was never meant for you.

Instead, it was meant for those of you with an open enough mind to objectively consider facts and maybe realize that, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t just let these folks act and operate as they wish to do so on public property, and with the help of our public funds.”

To that second set: We end this series with a plea.

If you can walk away from reading this series legitimately still believing that your memories at the State Fair of Texas are more important than the current lives of South Dallas residents, then we simply hope that you never find yourself in a situation where your city and your neighbors have chosen to forget about you.